‘Chalk It Up’ Squares Honor Fallen Police Officers

SACRAMENTO — Hundreds of local artists have spent the entire weekend transforming the sidewalk around Fremont Park into a colorful checkerboard of chalk art.

Monday was the third day of the Chalk It Up art festival in Sacramento and organizers said it would be the busiest day of the holiday weekend.

The free event offers live art demonstrations, music, food and vendor booths, and proceeds are put back into the community through local art grants.

Two squares stood out this year.

“We came out today. I came out with my family to see it. I knew it was going to be here and it’s amazing,” Davis Police Officer Ron Trn said.

The Davis Police Officers Association sponsored two squares right next to each other to honor police officers Natalie Corona and Tara O’Sullivan — two young women who were killed in the line of duty this year.

“For me, it’s just, you know, it’s really that service that these two women gave to the community, to their respective communities and departments, and gave it their all. And it’s really special to see them honored in this way,” Trn said. “It’s beautiful.”

The tributes were emotional not just for Trn, but for organizers and many passersby.

“It brings them back to life for people and they get to remember that they are,” Chalk It Up board member Rocki Nelson said. “They were young, gorgeous, obviously committed young women who were part of our community and they were alive and they did so much for us. And art is life and it’s created and it’s vibrant and so were they.”